Bloodwing
by Pjaay
Summary: After the fall of Jack and the rise of the new Vault Hunter, Mordecai is happy. At least, he seems happy. Deep down however, he's cold and alone. He's missing one massive part of his life, someone who was with him from the beginning.


One

Mordecai pressed his hand further against his cheek; sleep still thick on his eyelids and a yawn escaping his lips slowly. His other hand was stirring a cup of steaming tea, and the motion of the spoon slowly moving around the drink was near enough alluring him back into a snooze.

After a few moments, there was a sudden, harsh slap on his back, and he jolted up and twisted in his chair. Brick stared down, looming over him, with a broad grin spread across his lips. Clearly the man didn't know his own strength as well as he thought, as Mordecai could near enough feel a hand mark from him on his back.

"Wake up!" Brick announced, "You can't spend all day half asleep! Eheh!"

Brick wandered over to the balcony of first floor HQ, and Mordecai turned solemnly back to his drink. If only Brick understood.

Without a second thought, Mordecai reached down into a pocket and pulled out a small silver flask, with black embedded patterns. With a few nimble twists, the lid was off and some of the hip-flasks contents were in the steaming tea. If there was one thing that could wake him up, it was alcohol. Regardless of how much Lilith told him that drinking would be the early death of him, he couldn't oblige. Especially in times like this.

Mordecai brought the tea and alcohol concoction up to his thin, cracked lips, and tested a little. It was perfect. He let his eyes slide shut as he drunk the beverage quickly. He was never able to savour drinks like Lilith or Tannis did, they always sipped away at them gingerly whilst he and Brick would barely give the liquid a second taste.

A fresh face, or better put - mask, walked into the room, catching Mordecai's attention. Arching an eyebrow and leaning on his desk, he slowly swung his chair around and stared at the person. At least, Mordecai was pretty sure he was a person.

"Zer0," he greeted, nodding curtly, getting a silent nod in return. It still baffled Mordecai why this guy didn't take off his mask, or why he spoke in haiku, or why his mask was able to make holographic pictures, or why on Pandora he had less fingers than the rest of the planet.

"Ah, I see you're here," Lilith announced from the doorway Zer0 had just entered through, "I thought I heard somebody coming up the stairs."

"Indeed," Zer0 responded, earning a puckered smile from Lilith. It was rare that Zer0 didn't speak in haiku, although when he didn't he usually only spoke in phrases and words. It wasn't really much different from the norm with him though, he was strange from the beginning.

The two started to talk about some business, and Mordecai decided he couldn't be bothered to listen and instead twisted back to face his desk and looked down at the pieces of paper scattered across its top. One of them caught his eye and instantly they glazed over. He reached to pick the scrap up with both hands, lovingly rubbing the smooth face of the photo with one thumb.

Bloodwing. The photo struck a chord so deep, that he near enough almost started to cry where he sat. However, he had learnt to channel that sadness into anger when fighting, but he wasn't fighting now, so it seemed to be of no use.

He pulled his flask from his pocket again, and unscrewed the cap, tilting his head back and poured its contents into his mouth. However, none appeared. Just a drop. Disappointment and anger rising through him slowly, he screwed the cap on and popped open a compartment at the bottom of the flask, slipping the small photo of Bloodwing inside.

Standing up and away from his desk, he turned to the other two, who in fact had been joined by Brick. From what he could hear of the conversation, Brick was talking about how good a "slab" Zer0 was. Mordecai shook his head and walked past them, to get to the staircase downstairs.

At the last moment, he felt a ginger touch of his arm, and he turned to look at Lilith. Her face was contorted with confusion.

"You okay, Mord?"

"I'm fine," He replied, impatience dripping from his words, "Just need some fresh air."

"Alright," She replied in confidence, "So long as you're back before mid-afternoon, we're going to be helping move residents here to Opportunity."

Nodding, but not listening, Mordecai stumbled slowly down the stairs and past Tannis, who was busy scribbling away at a notebook. Stepping out into the early afternoon sun, Mordecai sighed. It was too hot. When it was hot, he got thirsty, and when he was thirsty, he drank alcohol. He licked his lips.

En route to Moxxi's, he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't himself. That he was never going to _be_himself, ever again. Bloodwing was a part of him, his pet, his friend. She wasn't only one of the best companions he's ever had, but he near enough believed she was as good a vault hunter as he was, back in the day. Back before Handsome Jack was a complete and utter dick and ruined Pandora.

Ruined his life.

"You alright, darlin'?" A sickly-sweet voice called, and Mordecai flipped his attention onto the woman before him. He'd barely noticed the fact he'd already arrived at the bar, and had automatically sat himself down by the female bartender.

He threw a smile to Moxxi, whose face turned a few shades darker pink. There was always something small between the two, a fleeting interest. Even though she had left him for Jack, that whole charade had been a long time ago, and now Jack was dead. A part of Mordecai even thought that the whole reason he came here to drink was because of her. That was out of the question now however, since his mind was in a completely different place.

"Hey babes," he smiled, "The usual, please."

She frowned; looking almost disappointed, and set to making him his drink. She spoke as she worked.

"Not fancying a chat today then, are we?" She said with a faked sigh, placing his drink down gently in front of him as she finished making it, "somethin' bothering you?"

He looked up at her as he reached out for his cold beverage, bringing a smile to his lips as soon as the cold surface touched his fingertips.

"Nah, not really," he admitted, lifting the drink to his lips and taking a rather large sip, "still feeling a bit down from, you know the whole Handsome Jack thing."

She tilted her head to the side, looking as quizzical as a small puppy. Her pale painted face and rose red lips stood out against each other. She looked porcelain, almost. The quiet tone to her voice was almost hard to hear over the bass-heavy music that was played throughout her bar.

"Sad? About Handsome Jack?"

And she could be near enough stupid, at times.

"No," Mordecai laughed with some force, "what he _did_. 'Cuz of him, I'm down one friend and one best friend."

She looked sheepishly down at the worktop, and picked at a tablecloth slightly. At least now she understood. Her eyes flickered back up to meet his, even though they were behind dark goggles, and reached out for his spare hand, stroking at it lightly with her fingertips. He let her.

"You'll be okay," she said in a soft and comforting tone, "they were brave. You were brave. They didn't leave us in vain."

He nodded in response, and quickly finished the last of his drink, putting the glass down a little more harsh than he meant, causing Moxxi to jump slightly. She pulled back her hand and reached above the worktop to get another glass.

"Same thing?"

"Please."

He needed to do something about how he was feeling. Bloodwing was never going to leave his mind.


End file.
